15575 Tasting Notes
Advent Calendar Day Twenty-Four
Well, sadly my advent calendar experience came to an end yesterday – but on a very positive note! When I saw this was a “Christmas Tea” I was really worried it was going to be the non herbal version of Tisane de Noel, with an array of spices. Instead I was very pleasantly surprised to see that the ingredients/main flavours were caramel, pineapple, and maraschino cherries! Kind of weird as an overall pairing, but also not? Doesn’t make much sense to me as a Christmas flavour but that cherry/pineapple pairing is basically Pineapple Upside Down Cake, which has never led me astray in tea form, so…
And yes; this DOES taste a lot like most Pineapple Upside Down Cake tea blends I’ve had the pleasure of enjoying (and DAVIDsTEA’s Coffee Cake which also uses pineapple/cherry). The key difference that I’m gathering is that while the caramel in the blend does provide some extra sweetness/dessert scrumptiousness this blend is overall a lot less cakey with milder brown sugar/molasses sponge cake notes. Instead, where PUDC lacks any defined fruit notes, this has rich candied cherry and pineapple notes that are sweet, fruity and bursting with life/character. It’s just so smooth overall, as well.
So basically; it’s exactly like PUDC from Della Terra but also not at all because the ratio/balance of flavours is pretty well totally flipped. I’d love to have this in my cupboard though, however the name probably would both me just a little bit if I was drinking it year round. Though I guess no more than the “Noel a BLANK” blends from DF do…
I’m not sure it’s my favourite from the calendar – but top three for sure.
Sipdown (161)!
Ugh; nothing like your laptop dying mid tasting note…
Laptop died around the third steep, so rewrote those based on memory.
I’ve tried mandarin stuffed pu’erh before – but this is by far the smallest one I’ve ever had. I wasn’t sure if I should crack the casing for it, because in the past I’ve had to crack the casings because the size of the orange has just been so large that it was enough, easily, for multiple sessions. Not the case with this one. Further inspection on W2T’s site reveals cracking it is not necessary, but since there was a large crack along one side of my drop in the first place I just cracked it in half anyway.
Started with a 5 sec rinse
5 Secs.
Smells lightly of sweet mandarin oranges
Flavour is smooth; not bitter like anticipated??? Or like the W2T site suggests is should be
Damp/wet wood and earth: very petrichor
Dull mandarin orange segment flavour
5 Secs.
More robust/juicy mandarin smell fills the whole room
Also a bit floral/like fresh flowers???
Aroma translates to flavour; minus the floral component
Stronger wet earth; reminds me of the forest floor
Having an issue with the very fine broken leaves getting through my gaiwan
Perhaps that’s why it shouldn’t be cracked!? Learn from me, tea friends.
7 Secs.
God, that mandarin aroma is so intense and beautiful
About equal in taste to the earthy notes
Wet wood/earth, moss, minerals, wet stones… basically all the wet stuff
Thick soup/liquor
12 Secs.
Picking through the leaf in the gaiwan a little… the mandarin casing is intense!
Liquor is getting a little sweeter
Taste in my mouth after swallowing is like the flavour of honeysuckle
My brother, cousin, and I used to suck the honey/nectar from honeysuckles as kids and it’s just like that!
Doesn’t mean a lack of earthy/brothy body
20 Secs.
More mandarin than pu’erh
Sweet, and feels almost like a perfumed mandarin? Or orange blossoms?
Very smooth; strong flavours but still feels delicate at times
20 Secs.
Mandarin starts the sip and ends it
Mid sip feels equal parts like wet earth/wet stone and fresh flowers
With a brothy, game-y component?
Really well rounded, supple
Getting stronger/more intense now
25 Secs.
Essentially a repeat of last infusion…
30 Secs.
Really strong mandarin – in smell and taste
Otherwise the same/very similar
Perhaps I’ve hit the sweet spot, now
30 Secs.
Sweet/bright overall
Earthyness somewhat overshadowed by the mandarin
Orange blossoms
45 Secs.
Liquor colour has SIGNIFICANTLY lightened from how opaque it started
Just a little weaker overall
Mandarin has a little tartness/sourness in the finish
60 Secs.
Mostly just mandarin
Can tell this is close to being brewed out
60 Secs.
Weak and watery, with whispers of mandarin and wet stone notes
Could continue until it’s completely brewed out, but I’m happy to stop here
Really happy with this purchase! I got many, many really lovely infusions from it and enjoyed every single one of them greatly. The mandarin was super lovely, and surrounded by a family on Christmas munching away at Mandarin oranges it felt perfectly appropriate as a choice for a tea session.
One of my favourite things about Christmas is family board games…
Thankfully this Christmas has been filled with many! The first one was called Urban Myth; and this was the tea I made for while we played…
It was nice drinking this one in more of a conscious state; I feel like a got a better grasp on the flavour distribution. Mostly, I think this is warming, but spicy ginger notes primarily but it is softened by some sweet mandarin top notes which fade into a more mellow undertone throughout the body of the sip. The finish is quite licorice root-y. Which is alright, I guess…
Overall; I’m not mad at this blend – I think if I was a bigger fan of ginger I’d be all over it. As it stands, I think it’s a little bit too spicy for me to want to have it around in a larger quantity though. As an occasional tea? I can get on board with it.
As for the game…
It was pretty challenging overall and most of the questions/statements were not obvious. The deciding question/statement for the game win though? President Barrack Obama is a Muslim Radical. Like; of all the stupid things to be the deciding question/statement. I think it’s pretty obvious that this one is obviously a myth; and my mom would agree because she took the game since this was the most obvious of all the things we’d come across…
D’oh.
#ProjectTeaWall
Iced soy latte, with added in honey.
So – when I was maybe about nine years old my Step Dad tried making his own homemade rootbeer. It wasn’t bad, but it sort of tasted the way that the dentist’s office smells. I’m bring this anecdote up because when I drank this tea it tasted like rootbeer the tastes like the way the dentist’s office smells. I know blenders often strive to have nuanced and “layered” flavour, but I don’t know that this is exactly what they’re going for? I mean, regardless though, I think I actually liked it? Even if it was weird and had that very bizarre flavour combination it was also kind of nostalgic? In a very weird way. Plus, sweet and not overly spicy. All of which are generally winning qualities.
Friendly reminder that I’m not currently numerically rating DAVIDsTEA blends as I’m currently seasonally employed there and it would be an obvious conflict of interest. Any blends you see with numerical ratings were rated prior to my employment there. These reviews are a reflection of my personal thoughts regarding the teas, and not the company’s.
Flavors: Cinnamon, Clove, Ginger, Medicinal, Root Beer
Sipdown (162)!
Merry Christmas Steepster!
I still have my Slack Christmas stuff, roommate Christmas exchange, and Christmas with my Dad to go but, so far, this is the haul I’ve gotten (tea related or otherwise):
- Brie Baker/Baking Set (Hooray Fancy Cheese!)
- Pokemon Moon (So now I have Sun and Moon!)
- Spiderman Beanie/Hat
- Squirtle Beanie/Hat
- Oz Collectible Figure (From BTVS)
- Swell Waterbottle
- Teapot Calendar (The one I use every year and then make tin labels out of the year after)
- Lanterns (A tabletop game)
- Spiderman: The Complete Clone Saga
- Season One of Falcon Beach (The nostalgia!!!)
And then, from my amazing Tea Twin VariaTEA, I got a very cool tea themed adult colouring book (perfect for Gong Fu sessions) and a journal with a tea related cover to take tea tasting notes/jot notes in. I’ll have to see if it’s small enough to keep on hand at DT so I can track notes on shift; but regardless it’ll be great for my commute! Thanks VariaTEA!!!
As for this tea, it was one of my free samples from my DAVIDsTEA Black Friday order – so I saved it to bring with me to my mom’s house. I brought about a dozen or so teas with so I could enjoy some of my own stuff here; both Western and Gong Fu. This was just the first I made after arriving…
I mean; don’t know what to say at this point: It’s Forever Nuts! Pretty well everyone knows what Forever Nuts is and tastes like – it’s the most popular blend carried by DAVIDsTEA country wide; and the shows. So many people come in to the store with this being the only tea they know about or have tried. It’s almost an enigma how this one specific blend travels so well by word of mouth. I like it well enough – more so in the winter than year round, but I don’t think it’s nearly as good as people make it out to be either.
Friendly reminder that I’m not currently numerically rating DAVIDsTEA blends as I’m currently seasonally employed there and it would be an obvious conflict of interest. Any blends you see with numerical ratings were rated prior to my employment there. These reviews are a reflection of my personal thoughts regarding the teas, and not the company’s.
Flavors: Apple, Cinnamon, Nutty
Ok, so literally everyone at work loves this tea… except me.
I’ve avoided it for years now because mentally every time I think of it I remember the disgusting hot brews I had of it that reminded me so intensely of beets and blood. Ugh! But everyone said I should give it another chance because this blend is so beloved by our staff… So, despite my better judgement, I did.
Still don’t like it – but at least I can finally move past the mental recollection of it tasting like blood because it, thankfully, didn’t remind me of blood this time. It was almost unbareably tart from the hibiscus overload – but I suppose that should be a given. Surprisingly, the blackberry actually came through relatively well/clearly. It tasted a lot like under ripe blackberries. I think it’s a testament to how trained my palate is now that I was able to identify the blackberry specifically because years ago I didn’t even think this was distinctly “berry” flavoured – let alone one particular berry.
But now that I’ve retried it I probably wont again any time soon.
Friendly reminder that I’m not currently numerically rating DAVIDsTEA blends as I’m currently seasonally employed there and it would be an obvious conflict of interest. Any blends you see with numerical ratings were rated prior to my employment there. These reviews are a reflection of my personal thoughts regarding the teas, and not the company’s.
EDIT: For the record, I had it iced this time.
Had to revisit the tea after trying the infused chocolate bar and really not minding the flavour in it…
However; not surprisingly I’m still somewhat upset by the flavour of this one. My biggest issue, of course, is that it’s still way too tart to convincingly portray the flavour profile of a muffin. For that reason, when I’m talking about it to customers, I usually tell them I interpret the flavour as more of a Blueberry Cider and it works better for me when I think of it that way. I will say, under leafing (which is what I did with this cup) keeps the hibiscus from being unbearable though, and helps at least a small degree of creaminess come through in the flavour. Not enough – but at least some.
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqyT8IEBkvY&index=3&list=LL1M1wDjmJD4SJr_CwzXAGuQ
Mostly just because it was playing on the mall radio at the time – as it often does. This is shaping up to be well overplayed by year end – however, that said, I haven’t quite reached the point of being sick of it yet, so me and the rest of the staff had a really nice sing along whilst restocking shelves since there wasn’t anyone in the store when it was playing…
Friendly reminder that I’m not currently numerically rating DAVIDsTEA blends as I’m currently seasonally employed there and it would be an obvious conflict of interest. Any blends you see with numerical ratings were rated prior to my employment there. These reviews are a reflection of my personal thoughts regarding the teas, and not the company’s.
This is a queued tasting note.
This is pretty well my number one recommendation when someone asks me which tea tastes good as a latte. It’s just so good. So, of course, that’s exactly how I drank it on shift the other night…
Very thick and creamy, with darker chocolate notes. Can’t really call them “dark chocolate notes” because the milk in the latte is always gonna make them taste at least somewhat like milk chocolate, but a darker/richer version of it. The earthy pu’erh is a lovely undertone/base flavour that serves to make the chocolate feel a little more high end ‘cause it doesn’t come off as “shiny and processed” as cheap milk chocolate would. If that makes sense?
Like I tell customers – this is a little heavier on the chocolate than orange, but the orange definitely does come through. It’s exactly like a Terry’s Chocolate Orange where your first bite is initially chocolate but it finishes with the sweetness of the orange.
So good!
Friendly reminder that I’m not currently numerically rating DAVIDsTEA blends as I’m currently seasonally employed there and it would be an obvious conflict of interest. Any blends you see with numerical ratings were rated prior to my employment there. These reviews are a reflection of my personal thoughts regarding the teas, and not the company’s.
I had a love hate relationship with this one. It seems kinda finicky, as some cups turned out a bit fishy for me, or dusty, as some puerhs are. Did you find you liked it more over time?
I’ve never had issues with it when I drink it as a latte – but if you look at my past tasting notes from a few years ago I really disliked this one for the same reasons you’re having issues with it. I don’t know if the shift in how I feel about it is more to do with my palate having drastically developed over the last three years or my learning to like it/the flavour being more of an acquired taste thing. I haven’t had it just straight in a while – I’ll have to do that to compare.
Yeah I know what you mean. Unfortunately, I did get it as a latte once, from the store… and it was one of the fishiest brews I had, and my last as well. Perhaps they changed the formula, as that was a long time ago. Also, I 100% second what Evol says. It would behoove DT to hire you fulltime :)
Aww; thank’s guys! I’m just crossing my fingers to stay on P/T at this point – but regardless of what happens in the New Year I had a wonderful time working there this season.
I’m gonna make a mental note to try it both straight and then as a latte prepared by someone other than myself though to see if I can get what you’re getting Indigobloom ‘cause I really do love this one now, so I’m curious to see if it was the prep style that changed, the fact I’ve been making my lattes to personal preference and not how the generic tea guide would, or if it’s just a change in tastes (acquired or otherwise)…
Hmmm. I’m also wondering if it was just that particular batch that came off as fishy. Or season. If I tried it now, maybe that wouldn’t be a thing? Either way, I look forward to reading of your findings! For the moment, I have an orange/chocolate blend from AQ2T that’s really good. I’d still love to have an alternate option :P
This is a queued tasting note.
Arguably not the freshest tea in the world; though I did only just open up the vacuum sealed sample package of it – and I’m sure that helped a lot in maintaining the freshness of this one. Regardless though, I still really enjoyed it.
- Sweet/fresh with notes of Spring flowers/dew
- Honey??
- Nuttier finish; more of a hazlenut or other sweet nut note
- Hay undertones
- Lighter body overall
Sipdown (163)!
Damn you, DAVIDsTEA, for reigniting my matcha latte addiction. At this point, I’m lucky if I don’t have a matcha latte on shift…
I brought in the last bit of this matcha the other day to make for myself and any other staff members who wanted to try it; and that was the BEST idea because holy shit was this a delicious latte! We all thoroughly enjoyed it.
It was sweet and creamy, with a sort of Bubblegum Milkshake/icecream flavour, but of course we were drinking it hot and not cold. Very thick and creamy. It even almost had a bit of a cotton candy sort of flavour to it too, which was interesting in a pleasantly surprising way. Normally this is just straight up bubblegum; no “extra” notes. Very nice, though. It was worth the sipdown to get to share this one with other people.
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLIv2P7BkX0&list=LL1M1wDjmJD4SJr_CwzXAGuQ&index=9
Mall music sucks; and this month it’s been mostly straight up Christmas music; but when we’re closing the store we can put on the radio or play our own music – and I’ve gotta say that overall, the staff at my DT has pretty solid tastes in music. Like this song.